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This year’s Giro d’Italia is shaping up to be the most attritional edition of the race in recent memory. With the race having just passed the halfway mark, only 142 riders remain at the start of stage 11, down 34 on the 176 who set off at the Grande Partenza in Abruzzo on May 6.
COVID-19 has hit the Giro hard. 16 riders to date have headed home after falling ill with the virus, which returned in the peloton in the weeks leading up to the race.
Race favourite Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) didn’t make it past Monday’s rest day after testing positive, while fellow GC contenders Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) are also leaving the race with the virus.
Stage 11 saw four of Evenepoel’s teammates also leave the race with COVID-19, the quartet was among eight riders to miss the start of the stage.
Only UAE Team Emirates, Jumbo-Visma, Astana Qazaqstan, Movistar, and Bahrain Victorious remain with full teams, while Soudal-QuickStep battle on with just three riders – Davide Ballerini, Pieter Serry, and Ilan Van Wilder.
Already, the race isn’t far off the recent low of 133 finishers at the COVID-19-hit 2020 race. There’s some way to go to match the races of 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2003, though, where under 100 finished the race due to harsh time cut rules in the mountains.
The Giro’s record low is the 1914 edition, which saw just eight finishers from 81 starters, while the post-war record low is 40 finishers in 1946.
Read on for the full rundown of withdrawals from the 2023 Giro d’Italia.
Stage 4
- Paul Lapeira (AG2R Citroën) – DNF, illness (opens in new tab)
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 7
Stage 8
Stage 9
Stage 10
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) – DNS, COVID-19
- Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost) – DNS, COVID-19 (opens in new tab)
- Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) – DNS, Pre-planned rest (opens in new tab)
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech) – DNS, COVID-19
- Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel-Premier Tech) – DNS, illness
- Sven Erik Bystrøm (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) – DNS, COVID-19
- Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) – DNS, stomach problems (opens in new tab)
- Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Deceuninck) – DNS, fever & diarrhoea (opens in new tab)
- Callum Scotson (Jayco-AlUla) – DNS, COVID-19
- Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM) – DNF, crash injuries (opens in new tab)
- Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) – DNF, illness (opens in new tab)
- Erik Fetter (Eolo-Kometa) – DNF, illness (opens in new tab)
- Aleksandr Vlasov…
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